Tigers notebook

DETROIT — Don Kelly’s the kind of guy who will gladly get lost in the shuffle.

If the home-run saving catch by the Detroit Tigers’ utilityman, robbing Toronto’s J.P. Arencibia in the second inning of Tuesday’s game, doesn’t make an appearance on ESPN’s SportsCenter, like his boss, manager Jim Leyland, thinks it will, it won’t exactly put his nose out of joint.

“Oh gosh. I’m just glad we got the win. Anibal (Sanchez) pitched great today,” Kelly said dismissively after the Tigers’ 7-3 win, in which two of his teammates set offensive milestones, and the Tigers broke out of their singles-hitting box with five extra-base hits.

Sure, Torii Hunter got hit No. 2,000.

Of course, Miguel Cabrera hit his 100th home run at Comerica Park, the first hitter to do so.

“I think one thing that goes unnoticed in this case is Donnie Kelly’s catch. It was huge. I mean, that ball was over the fence,” Leyland said after the game, after talking about the offensive barrage.

It didn’t go unnoticed by his teammates.

“Oh, yeah. I think he make my day,” Sanchez said.

“Don Kelly, that’s respect. I really respect that kind of art, robbing home runs. I think when he robbed it, I was jumping up and down like a little kid in a candy store,” Hunter said. “I was like, ‘Yay!’ It was pretty awesome. Donnie Kelly’s a good guy and he plays hard and, to do that, I’m happy for him.”

It would be unsurprising if you forgot this one as easily as you’ve probably forgotten the last time he robbed a home run, pulling one back in an early June game against the Yankees.

“I brought one back last year. (New York’s Mark) Teixeira. Teixeira’s I was able to get back there. It was higher,” Kelly said. “This one was kind of, I didn’t have a chance to get back to the fence and jump, it was just all at one time.”

Hmm. Still not ringing a bell?Why have you forgotten it?

Because afterward in that game, Yankees manager Joe Girardi was ejected (again), and the Tigers blew leads in the eighth and ninth innings, the latter coming when Jose Valverde allowed a run without a hit.

Miguel Cabrera hit two monster home runs.

It was Star Wars night.Oh, and third-string catcher Omir Santos won it with a walk-off sac fly in the bottom of the ninth.

No wonder it faded into the background.

Toronto manager John Gibbons wasn’t surprised, though.

“It’s not like we’ve been the victim of bad luck. One thing about Kelly – he doesn’t play a lot, but that guy is in the middle of something good all the time,” Gibbons said. “He had a big game for them last year in the postseason. He’s a good player. He’s done a lot of good things to help them win. That’s why he’s in there.”

It was the biggest contribution of the day for Kelly, 0-for-4 essentially replacing the injured Victor Martinez.

It was plenty.“Everybody was fired up. When you make a play like that to keep a run off the board, whether it’s a home run or a catch with guys in scoring position or whatever, it helps out a lot,” he said. “I didn’t know how far it was going to carry. He hit it, obviously, pretty well. So just to be able to get back there and catch it was awesome.”

VMart day-to-day with cut on thumb

The Detroit Tigers had to do without Victor Martinez for the entirety of the 2012 season.

Now, they’ll likely be without him for a couple of days.

The designated hitter for the Tigers was out of the lineup Tuesday and day-to-day, after a cut on his right thumb required eight stitches to close. He apparently cut it on the bat rack during Sunday’s game. Andy Dirks took his spot at DH to start Tuesday’s game, while Kelly got the start in left field.

Martinez had played in every game so far this season, and 26 of 35 spring games.

Avila homers in first action after daughter’s birth

Alex Avila has not had any sleep. Apparently, he needs none.

After Avila’s wife, Kristina, spent Friday night in the hospital, Avery Noelle Avila (six pounds, 15 ounces) was born around 3:30 a.m. Sunday morning. Avila was back for Sunday’s game, but did not play.

When he got back in the lineup Tuesday, he bashed a solo home run on the first pitch he saw from Toronto’s Brandon Morrow, putting the Tigers up 2-0 in the second inning. He’d later send Toronto center fielder Colby Rasmus nearly to the wall to catch a fifth-inning blast.

“I got a lot of ‘Daddy strength’ jokes,” Avila admitted after the game.

Shortly thereafter, he was headed right back to the hospital.

It was hard enough for him to leave.

“It’s something I never experienced anything like that really. It’s overwhelming joy, just completely overwhelming. She’s so precious, she’s so cute that every time I hold her, I never want to let go. I have a hard time leaving the house,” he said. “Now what I’m thinking about is the road trip we’re going to be on for 10 days, what am I going to miss, stuff like that. That’s the tough part. But the fact that she’s here.”

Hunter reaches 2,000-hit milestone

New Tigers outfielder Torii Hunter, whose first-ever home run was in 1999 at Tiger Stadium, set another milestone in Detroit — this time as part of the home team — registering three hits on Tuesday to get him to the 2,000-hit plateau.

“I’m going to get my 300th home run here, too,” Hunter said with a smile, knowing that he’s three homers shy of that mark.

“I’m excited, I’m very excited. Those are individual goals. It’s great to have individual goals and I thank God for the opportunity to go out there and play on a day-to-day basis and stay healthy to get 2,000 hits. So I feel like I’m a better hitter now, the last couple years, and to get hits, and that’s what I’ve been trying to do. To get 2,000, I just thank God for the opportunity.”

The game was stopped to recognize the feat, and the Comerica Park crowd of 28,979 gave Hunter a standing ovation, something he acknowledged with a tip of the batting helmet.

““It’s awesome. I’ve been playing with the Twins for all these years, when I come here, I still felt a little love and now that I’m here, just they’ve seen me play, they’ve seen me grow as a player, all the Tigers fans. Even though I was with the Twins, but they saw a young, 22-year-old Torii Hunter, they saw the 25-year-old, the 27-year-old, the 30-year-old, so they saw me grow and play this game and to get 2,000 hits, I’m thankful that they showed the support and the hand clap I’m thankful for.”

Hunter has averaged more than two hits per game in his first seven contests with the Tigers, quickly chewing up the gap he had between where he started, and the 2,000-hit plateau, becoming the fourth Tigers player — joining Al Kaline (1955), Charlie Gehringer (1929) and Ty Cobb (1919) — as the only ones in the modern era to have two or more hits in six of the team’s first seven games.

“Certainly congratulations to Torii, 2,000 hits. That’s certainly a nice milestone for him. And we’re certainly happy he got it in a Tiger uniform, obviously.

“It’s unbelievable,” Don Kelly said. “Torii, I’ve played against him but to have him in this clubhouse, just the type of guy he is and to see the positive influence he is and the way he goes about playing the game, real happy for him.”

Matthew B. Mowery covers the Tigers. Email him at matt.mowery@oakpress.com and follow him on Twitter @matthewbmowery.